After a fight between teenagers escalated into an active shooter situation at the nearby Dr. Gertrude B. Kelly Playground on January 14, NYC Museum School, along with the two other schools it shares a building with (Lab Middle School and Lab High School), was forced into a shelter-in.
Police said shots were fired on 17th Street around 2:30 P.M., up the street from Museum School. At the time, the park was full of students from nearby schools.
“There were so many police,” said Abby Adam, a senior at Museum School, who was on the side of the building closest to the shooting when it happened, and had a view out the window.
“Within a minute or two of the event, a shelter-in was called right away,” said Andre Rodrigues, the principal of the Museum school. “A shelter-in is called when there’s a potential threat outside of the building.”
“There was a call on the radio … our BRT [Building Response Team] responded that we were going into a shelter-in as a result of a threat outside of the building,” Principal Rodrigues explained. “When that happens, we prioritize the safety and the security of the campus, ensuring that the doors are locked and alarmed—which they were.”
Nicolas Silverio, a junior in the AP United States History room, said his teacher, Mr. Johnson, “responded [by] calmly following protocols and assuring us everything would be okay.”
Adam had a similar experience: “I was in … Mr. Schneider’s room when the shooting happened,” she said. “My teacher was very calm and contained. He was also very surprised, but he was very good at keeping the calm in the room.”
“We mobilized staff members as part of our building response team, which is led by Mr. Viteri to … follow the procedures that we’ve been trained in,” Principal Rodrigues said. “We train our staff every year in September on these procedures, and the staff did a wonderful job.”
For Ellery Rice, a freshman who’d only been attending the school for a few months by the time of the shooting, “the school handled [the shooting] very well … as well as the NYPD,” although she added, “I just wish I had more information in the moment because I heard tons of different things that made me more worried.” Despite that, Ellery said, “Overall, I felt safe inside the school.”
Adam called the school’s response “phenomenal” and said, “Boom, that’s Museum for you,” while Nicolas called the response “warranted” and “reasonable.”
Despite this, many students complained about having to stay an extra hour after their usual dismissal, which was staggered between the three schools.
“Teachers were so incredibly supportive, they followed the procedures … I received a lot of positive parent feedback from how we communicated very clearly with the parents, because as this was developing in real time, we’re also communicating with parents to let parents know,” Principal Rodrigues said. Overall, he felt like “the community handled it so well.”
